Paper – From Archive to Information Gateway

By Jordan Lind, Vice President
Professional Support Services Corporation
(A member of the ALPS family of professional service companies)

The widespread introduction of personal computers in the mid 80’s promised to significantly reduce the paper that overwhelmed our day-to-day operations. What has occurred since has been exactly the opposite; and, in fact, market analysts predict that paper production will continue to grow at over 6% per year. For law firms, the added burden of handling this continually increasing amount of paper digs into profits. Value added productivity drops as staff and attorneys spend more and more time filtering through file cabinets adding little or no value to the bottom line. Fortunately, this ever-increasing influx of paper is driving the development of new technologies that reduce the need for paper. This article introduces the paperless office concept, identifies the inherent benefits of using the technology, and offers practical steps to reaching the goal of paperless office management at a reasonable cost.

While the paperless legal office has not yet arrived in most firm environments, more and more its arrival is becoming a matter of “when” and not “if.” A common misconception of the paperless office is the idea that no paper exists once the system is implemented. This is incorrect. The real difference is in how paper is stored, and in a paperless office environment, files are stored digitally. For those of you who still prefer to work with hard copies, you can still print a document, make changes to the hard copy, and have the new version re-stored electronically. The primary focus of a paperless system is simply to save space and time through digitization of data.

The paperless office concept requires a firm to abandon the use of paper files and file cabinets as its primary storage and embrace the electronic image as its main storage method. The term paperless office, in its simplest form, is the conversion of paper documents into an electronic image on your computer. Paperless office systems help you organize electronic files in a structural format that can follow the same logic as your current, physical filing system. The creation of an electronic firm library results in a central repository of intellectual property that is accessible, cost-efficient, and enables workflow efficiency. The paperless office allows firms to capture their collective experience, knowledge, and work-product leading to an immediate return on investment. The concept is simple. Let your computer (or server) do as much of the sorting, storage, search, and retrieval work as possible therefore freeing up your human resources to perform more value-added activities.

The benefits your firm will realize from embracing the paperless office system include:

• Efficient transference of work – assigning work to a colleague or associate becomes easy, as all file and case information are contained in one readily accessible electronic file folder.
• Cost efficient – support staff spend more time doing value-added work instead of mundane and repetitive tasks, the need for file storage space and equipment is significantly reduced, the search for and retrieval of documents is almost instantaneous, and documents can be emailed or faxed directly from your desktop.
• Eliminates misfiled or lost documents – keep in mind that almost 8% of all paper documents are lost and 4% are misfiled resulting in the expenditure of 350 hours each year searching for lost files for the average company.
• Improves backup and disaster recovery capabilities – consider the time and expense necessary to dry and/or try to restore paper documents after a flood.
• Creates a central data repository – enabling common access to firm experience, history, and work-product, simultaneously if necessary.

A practical way to investigate the potential of the paperless office system is to engage a single attorney in your firm to conduct a pilot program. Select an attorney in your firm with an average grasp on technology. Challenge this individual to file all new documents electronically when they are received or produced. To store the files electronically, save them as a PDF file. (Suggested hardware and software specifications required for a pilot program are listed below.) If the initial documents are hard copies, have them scanned and then save them as a PDF file. These electronic files should be saved in an electronic file structure that matches your current physical file structure. Within a few months, this attorney and his/her assistant will begin to experience the benefits that the paperless office can produce for your firm. After two months and little or no cost, you will have created an internal champion who has a fundamental understanding of how the paperless concept can transfer firm-wide.

Again, technology implemented well improves firm efficiency. Imagine a work environment in which there are no last minute panic sessions searching for a document or client file when preparing for a meeting or court appearance. This day may be closer than you realize and the result will be greater organization, flexibility, workflow efficiency and reduced costs. Going paperless will directly impact the bottom line.

Minimum hardware requirements for executing a single user pilot program includes:

• Hardware: 17 inch monitor, 1.0 GHz computer, 256 MB RAM;
• Scanner – Options are limitless but here are two that we have had success with:

1. HP ScanJet 5370C – 10 pages per minute with Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), approximate retail is $250-$300.
2. Fujitsu 4120C – 25 pages per minute, approximate retail is $800-$1,000.

• Software: Adobe Acrobat 6 (PDF) Full Version, approximately $250.

For further information about paperless office systems or information systems planning you may contact Jordan Lind at (406) 728-3113 or jlind@alpsnet.com.

Reprinted with permission from ALPS Risk Management Report, January 31, 2004, published by Attorneys Liability Protection Society.

Editorial comment: Attorneys Liability Protection Society (ALPS) has been a paperless office for a number of years. I have personally seen their system, and it is quite impressive. They know of which they speak, because they actually did it.

Walter E. Stewart, Jr., Executive Vice President & COO, Legal Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland

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